Question

An ant is crawling along a yardstick that is pointed with the 0-inch mark to the east and the 36-inch mark to the west. It starts at the 16 inch mark, crawls to the 29-inch mark, then moves to the 14-inch mark. What is the total distance the ant traveled? What was the total displacement of the ant?

Answer 1

Answer:

• The total distance traveled is 28 inches.
• The displacement is 2 inches to the east.

Explanation:

Lets put a frame of reference in the problem. Starting the frame of reference at the point with the 0-inch mark, and making the unit vector $\hat{i}$ pointing in the west direction, the ant start at position

$\vec{r}_0 = 16 \ inch \ \hat{i}$

Then, moves to

$\vec{r}_1 = 29 \ inch \ \hat{i}$

so, the distance traveled here is

$d_1 = |\vec{r}_1 - \vec{r}_0 | = | 29 \ inch \ \hat{i} - 16 \ inch \ \hat{i} |$

$d_1 = | 13 \ inch \ \hat{i} |$

$d_1 = 13 \ inch$

after this, the ant travels to

$\vec{r}_2 = 14 \ inch \ \hat{i}$

so, the distance traveled here is

$d_2 = |\vec{r}_2 - \vec{r}_1 | = | 14 \ inch \ \hat{i} - 29 \ inch \ \hat{i} |$

$d_2 = | - 15 \ inch \ \hat{i} |$

$d_2 = 15 \ inch$

The total distance traveled will be:

$d_1 + d_2 = 13 \ inch + 15 \ inch = 28 \ inch$

The displacement is the final position vector minus the initial position vector:

$\vec{D}=\vec{r}_2 - \vec{r}_1$

$\vec{D}= 14 \ inch \ \hat{i} - 16 \ inch \ \hat{i}$

$\vec{D}= - 2 \ inch \ \hat{i}$

This is 2 inches to the east.